The Wolves' Den housed a total of ten members, if we included our original Captain—Asura, who was currently out of commission, a few others who were on solo missions, and one who was inactive for the time being. It was technically eleven, if you counted our wolfdog, Yuna.
Aside from them, there was me, Code, Ophelia, Havoc, Brand, and Star, who were currently present.
This was the hierarchy of our Guild:
- Original Captain – Asura (not present/away/ETA: unknown)
- Acting Captain – Greed (present)
- Vice Captain – Code (present)
- 1st Executive – ??? (not present/away/ETA: unknown)
- 2nd Executive – Ophelia (present)
- Ace Member 1 – ??? (not present/returning/ETA: soon... apparently)
- Ace Member 2 – Nash (present/not active)
- Member – Havoc (present)
- Member – Brand (present)
- Member – Star (present)
- Guild Pet – Yuna (present)
And that was all the Black Wolves for now unless we chose to recruit.
We were the smallest Guild in the Kingdom, and the least desired Guild for new mages to want to join because of our standoffish representation and this new "reputation" these fake Black Wolves were pinning on us.
We didn't care for reputation to begin with but having that in our corner definitely didn't help. People often saw us as thugs and hooligans anyway, so it just checked out. Regardless of what they thought, we were the only Black Wolves in the Valley Kingdom, so these were all just accusations for now.
Prestigious mages who didn't want to dirty their names avoided us at all cost. However, some mages, regardless of how we're perceived, didn't care for such trivial things. They were in other Guilds, they saw us as allies and friends. One of those mages was Ryoku, or Ryo for short, the Vice Captain of the Crimson Dragon Knights, and the others in other partner Guilds like him that the rest of the crew, maybe except the 1st Ace, has yet to meet.
The Arcane King, Daz, was also good friends with Asura, so he is another who kept us around, even if it seemed to taint his name with the Kingdom's subjects just a little bit. Sirus, his assistant, also looked out for us from behind the scenes, though I bet he felt reluctant to do so at times. I was grateful for an ounce of it, nevertheless.
Out of the eight Guilds of the Valley Kingdom, we were ranked eighth—the lowest on the roster. Even though we completed missions, we didn't have much support from the Kingdom's people, which helps boost your ranking. All we cared about was preserving what we had. It was my promise to Asura, who I believed was going to come back. That's why I refused to make things official and make myself the Captain of this Guild. No matter how romanticized others saw it. I truly was a dog. Loyal and eagerly awaiting his return.
To this day, since Asura left to complete his mission over a year ago, he appointed me to be the Acting Captain for the Black Wolves in his place.
I never understood his choice, and why he didn't just choose Code for this. He was here before me after all. Thing was, even Code vouched for me surprisingly.
Whatever the reason, this was my temporary role I had to play.
All these titles were so annoying. I didn't care for any of it. So long as we were able to keep our small family together and our livelihood, that's all I really cared about. Though… That feeling that something was missing always found its way to the forefront of my mind.
For the past five years now, when I would look at the sky randomly, those eyes were there, and I'd be falling through them. I still don't know what they mean. It was hard for me to recall anything before coming to this Kingdom, finding Asura and the others.
Things like this were meant for another day, I supposed. For now, I was just happy with the life I had. If I could keep things this way forever, I would. But knowing my luck, and this gut feeling, I just knew that things weren't going to stay like this for long.
***
The next day, we all conducted our own agendas in the Den.
It was morning. My room was dark. And my medium-large-sized gothic room let in just enough sunlight through its dark-colored curtains onto my bed to let me know of dawn.
My bed was king-sized and was gray from the sheets all the way to the pillows. The headboard, black with distinctive carvings of some design, dully reflected some of the sunlight.
The time was 0630, my usual time to wake regardless of whether I had an urgent matter or not. I lay naked and half awake, readying myself to get up.
Pulling the sheets off, I was met with surprise as a female lay under the covers wearing nothing but my white shirt, her nicely shaped body traced through the threads of it. Her pink hair lay a mess as she continued to slumber unbothered, curled up next to my legs, facing me.
I sighed, "Star, when did you..." I said dizzily, like I'd had a rough night or something.
She murmured in response and continued sleeping.
I probably shouldn't have been surprised. I guessed I was more surprised I didn't remember anything.
I felt strangely relaxed, though, even if my bones were tired and my mind was spinning... Fuck.
"Did you rape me? Why am I so damn tired?" I asked as a joke.
But then Star murmured again. This time forming a sentence, "No, I didn't touch you."
"Well, that's the first. I guess I just passed out then," turning away now to get up.
"I did put something in your drink last night though... It was from the berries in the garden, I ate some and even mixed it in my drink yesterday, and it was so sweet! But I don't know, I must have grabbed the wrong berries, cause all I remember is Teddy touching me... Teddy was super rough."
I was silent. My back faced her.
"Star saw stars last night," she said, moaning a yawn before going back to sleep, snoring softly.
I was frozen. Refusing to say anything for a good minute. The silence was deafening as a thought crept, Fucking hell... this bitch really drugged me... and she's so casual about it! I slapped my face with both palms after thinking it.
Shaking my head, I said to her, "You're lucky you're cute."
I wondered who was more toxic. Her or myself?
She just kept sleeping. I could have carried her out, but I decided not to. So I left her there, got up anyway, and opened the curtains to let in more sunlight. The light shone on her face, and she winced, pulling back the covers over herself again.
I proceeded to get ready and get dressed. Wearing only my black pants and a white compression shirt, I sat at the edge of the bed to throw on my boots.
"See ya later," I said as I tied my last lace and headed out of the room. She only moaned in response.
As I left my sleeping quarters, I made my way through the hall and down the grand staircase from one of the flights that split into two if you were heading up.
On the other side of the flight of stairs, opposite from the one I was on, Code casually walked down with his hands in his jacket pockets.
He had his hood over his billed cap, as usual, carrying what looked like a long sword behind him this time, but it wasn't a regular long sword. It had two hilts, one on the top and one on the bottom of it, like it could potentially be two rather than one. The sheath was a color block of black and red down the middle.
Spar day. It was the only explanation for why he had it on.
We met at the landing and proceeded down the main staircase that connected the two other stairs we had come from.
"Morning," he said almost disinterestedly.
"Yup," I replied the same way. And silence was all that was left after. The silence was a way of greeting on its own even if we had chosen to not say anything like some mornings.
When we both opened and walked out the double-door entrance of the Den, Havoc and Brand were already outside warming up. Dressed in the same attire I was, compression shirts, black pants, boots, no jacket.
"Look who's chipper this morning!" Havoc poked at me, stretching. "Me, on the other hand—I couldn't sleep a wink with all that moaning from your side, Cap. Star's night, right? You know I leave a stack of condoms for you at your nightstand, and every time I go to get you more cause' I think you use them, I open the drawer, and they're all piled in there! Who's next? J—"
"Don't finish your sentence, asshat. Can you mind your own business for once?" I interjected.
Havoc stuck out a tongue and winked with his only working eye. "I can't. Hypersensitive hearing, too, remember?"
"Earplugs. Or better yet, why don't you just move rooms?" I replied. A futile argument.
"Just pulling your leg, Cap. We all know Star moans in her sleep," Havoc said sarcastically, knowing full well what she and I did last night…
Code, setting down his long sword on a pillar, pulled off his jacket and hung it on a wooden stand that was just put there the other day. Grabbing his long sword afterward, he began walking and said, "Less chit-chat, more combat. Let's go," brushing off our banter as he passed between us.
He flipped his hat backward as he strode along. When he got a good distance in the middle of me, Havoc, and Brand, he then, with one step, cast a giant pentagram around us that spread out over the ground and under the pillars. It disappeared once it reached its desired size, glowing a faint white before fading away completely.
With one quick snap, he switched all the pillars' places and then, with his right arm, waved slowly from his side, and with that slow movement on its own, the pillars around us began shifting.
There were ten pillars in total that led a path to the front double doors of the Wolves Den in the large clearing it was perched in the middle of. He split them between the four of us—five surrounding me and Code, and the other five around Havoc and Brand. Creating our own small arenas.
We did this once every week at the bare minimum. One thing Asura embedded into each of us was to always be prepared. Those who sweat in times of peace bleed less in times of war. Something like that, or so he always said.
We prepared ourselves one last time, and once we were ready to go, our sparring began.
I dashed toward Code. He gripped one of the hilts of his long sword, and when I neared him, my fist clashed with his blade.
***
High up, from a building on the Northwest side of the Kingdom, a man draped in a royal blue cloak elegantly made his way to his balcony overlooking the city.
His hair was white and long with a braid on his left side. The logo on the back of his cloak was that of a gold phoenix with its wings spread out.
"Reporting in, sir," a male voice said from behind him. His voice young but mature. He seemed disengaged and unfocused, yet continued regardless. "It appears they really will be attending tomorrow."
The man simply waved a hand with gold rings on each finger. It glinted the light from where he was standing. "I saw." he said, referring to the leak of the attendees. His voice was light like a feather but carried a hidden heaviness within it like a calm storm.
"So," the other male replied, "would you like to initiate phase one?"
The other man, silent for a moment, finally spoke, "Yes. Let operation H.T.W. commence."
The other male remained in a knelt position and said nothing, waiting for more orders before dismissing himself. Lastly, the male on the balcony said one last thing to him, "Oh, and Henza…" He turned slightly, revealing his deep red eyes. "Make sure they make it there…"
The male behind him, Henza, nodded then disappeared swiftly.
The clouds parted, revealing the sky. The sun shone even more onto the man on the balcony, his silhouette forming. He appeared like a god as he stood there, looking down at the Kingdom.
"Soon… Soon you will all be saved."